The Asylum Director looked as dishevelled as his Asylum, his stained white coat unbuttoned, his hair ruffled, ill-combed. Orial began to wonder if she had made a grave error of judgement in coming. The gloomy office into which he ushered her did nothing to improve her first impressions: a yellowing skull leered at her from the desk. The walls were covered in a gloomy dark brown wallpaper with faded medical charts showing sections of the brain, highlighted in lurid greens and pinks.

‘How can I help you, demselle?’ He was staring at her in a way that made her feel distinctly uncomfortable, as if she were a laboratory specimen pinned out on a board. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?’

‘Magelonne.’

He let out a sudden, wild bark of laughter that made her jump.

‘Orial Magelonne! Let me introduce myself: Tartarus. Ophil Tartarus. Your father may have mentioned my name…’

Orial looked at him blankly.

‘Or maybe not.’

‘Dr Tartarus – what can you tell me of an illness called the Accidie?’

‘It’s rare. Exceptionally rare, demselle.’ He was still staring at her. ‘Before we proceed – does your father know you have come to consult me?’

Orial hesitated. If she said no, would he send her away?

‘I can tell from your silence that he does not.’

‘And does that prevent you answering my questions?’ Orial asked. She had summoned the courage to make the journey here; she would not come away unsatisfied.

‘Please. Sit down.’ He held out a chair for her; the worn leather upholstery creaked as she sat down.

‘If you know my father – then you know what happened to my mother?’

He sat opposite her

‘Iridial Magelonne? Yes, I treated her.’

His prompt reply took her by surprise.

‘So she did go mad?’

‘Mad? Such an imprecise term. Your mother was suffering from a kind of mania. She claimed she could hear the music in other people’s minds. Constantly.’

‘The Accidie?’

‘Before we proceed you’d better read this – a monograph written by my predecessor.’

He pulled out a bound ledger and smoothed it open: the page he presented to Orial was filled with a tightly written script in fading brown ink:

As the Accidie only seems to affect females at or after puberty, how can we be sure that the patient is suffering from the Accidie and not hysteria? The eyes (cf. my pamphlet on this subject) show a tendency to myopia and astigmatism. If the irises have developed marked striations of several colours, then this is a certain indicator.

The patient will manifest musical ability of a prodigious nature.